Hey everyone, are you getting excited for the long weekend?  We’ve got plans to make a quick trip to a special location to celebrate the last official weekend of summer, but I can *almost* feel fall in the air!  

I’ve invited Shannon of AKA Design back to share with you a list of five natural elements that make it easy and inexpensive to transition your home for fall.  Welcome back Shannon!

“Hi everybody!  Some say spring is a time for new beginnings and perhaps that’s true.  But to me, fall has always been the season to begin exciting new adventures.  Maybe it’s because I fondly remember school starting each fall, with new classes, friends and teachers (truthfully it was the pristine new binders and perfectly sharpened pencil crayons that got me!).  Or that the cooler weather is so crisp and refreshing after the summer heat. Or maybe it’s that Christmas (and all the joy that comes with it) is right around the corner once autumn arrives.  Who knows.  But, I do know that fall is one of my absolute favourite seasons for decorating!

Decorating in autumn is made fabulous by its sheer simplicity – all you need to do is bring the outdoors in using various elements from nature and you instantly cozy up a space!  Here are a five natural elements that make transitioning to fall easy. 

1.  Pumpkins & Gourds  In the fall, there are so many readily available pumpkins and gourds in various shapes, sizes and colours.  There are real and faux versions, as well as painted, glittered, and blinged out squash varieties. They can be stacked up, lined up or used to create any manner of vignette. 

Pottery Barn

 

My Home Ideas

 

Country Living

 

Better Homes & Gardens

 

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While I’m talking all about paint and stain in Atlanta for the next two days, I have a few special guests coming up, and my first is my friend Myra from My Blessed Life.  I met Myra at the Blissdom conference over a year ago, and we’ve been friends ever since!  Since I’m touring the south this week, I’m excited to begin this “Summer Is…” series with this sweet southern gal, please give Myra a warm welcome! 

Hello, hello fabulous Centsational Girl readers!  I’m thrilled and honored to be visiting with you today.  Summer is such a beautiful time of year, although in Alabama it is very hot and humid.  But I embrace the beauty and stay as cool as possible.  Here are a few of my favorite things about Summer in the South…

Porch Living:  My family and I live in the oldest house on main street in our tiny town. We enjoy spending our mornings and evenings on the front porch reading, watching the cars go by, waving to neighbors and sipping on a glass of cold {sweet} iced tea.

 

 

Farmer’s Market Produce:  Each weekend, I stop by the farmer’s market to get fresh produce for the coming week.  My favorites are cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, strawberries, peaches and blackberries.  I’ve made delicious cobblers with fresh strawberries, peaches and blackberries in the last few weeks.

 

Backyard Hydrangeas: The huge bush of blue hydrangeas growing on the side of our house just takes my breath away. I love cutting blooms and adding them to a vase on the table. They cheer a room up so quickly.

 

Seabrook Island, South Carolina:  My very favorite destination to visit during the Summer months is Seabrook Island. It is a private, quiet community with beautiful white sandy beaches, gorgeous trees and marshes.  Bike riding is peaceful and a multitude of deer come out to play at dusk.  Seabrook Island isn’t far from Charleston which is definitely another perk!

Thanks so much Kate for having me today! I hope you and your wonderful readers have enjoyed reading about my Summer favorites.  I would love if y’all stopped by for a visit anytime.

Thank you Myra for sharing your definition of summer, I’m putting Seabrook Island on my list of places to visit!  

What’s your definition of summer?

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Greetings everyone!  Today I’m on a flight to the SNAP Conference in Utah where I’ll be mixing with other bloggers and also speaking on Saturday on a panel with Ana, Shelley, and Emily on ‘Discovering and Defining your Personal Style’.  Can’t wait to meet all of you that are attending! 

While I’m away, I have a very special guest for you.  I’ve long admired Heather Bullard, a talented stylist with impeccable taste.  Heather is a Contributing Editor to Country Living magazine, and she also produces and styles editorial stories all over the country.   Heather recently launched her publication Souvenir Magazine, filled with inspiration on all things home and garden.  I admire her talents so much I asked her to share a few styling secrets with you. 

Here are Heather’s Five Tips for Styling Better Photos!

“Hi Centsational Girl readers! So happy to be visiting you here today. I thought I’d share a few of my styling tricks and tips with you. Whether you’re working on an entire room, a small vignette in your home or want to style better blog photos here’s five tips to help make things easier!

1. Contrast.  When styling, think in terms of adding items that counter balance one another. The bright whites and warm woods in this photo of my kitchen corner, are a great example. Also notice there is additional contrast in the breadboards and the texture of the basket tray. And even hints of subtle contrast in the various colors and textures of the ironstone.

 

2.  Use a Statement Piece.  The bold graphic artwork in this mainly white home makes this room stand out.  Because the artwork was the focal point, I kept the other styling elements minimal and neutral. In this case, less is more.

 

3.  Real Life Styling.  Keeping props and styling realistic is what makes a space or image feel lived in and gives it a warm, inviting atmosphere. For this kitchen, I added what the homeowner might naturally have, such as a small collection of cookbooks, vegetables at the ready and the cooks favorite utensils. Even with all the added props, the styling remains simple and comfortable.

4.  Group Like Items.  A collection of like objects can be a stylists best friend. For this vignette, the only additional props added were a few vintage books in similar colors to accent but not overpower the clock collection. Letting the collection remain the true focus.

 

5.  A Touch of Nature.   Adding just a few sprigs of greenery or simple bouquet can give such life to any styling project. Beautiful florals and natural elements bring fresh perspective and help to add color and life a setting. These are a stylists mainstay and I can’t imagine working on a project without fresh flowers!

Thanks for inviting me to guest post today, Kate! I hope you and your wonderful readers learned a few Tricks of a Stylists Trade! Feel free to stop by and say hello anytime!”

Thank you so much Heather, you’re so inspiring!  I love all of these tips and she’s so right.  Incorporating at least one of these suggestions into your next photo shoot is sure to make for a simple yet well composed image. 

Be back tomorrow with one more post to finish out the week! 

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I discover new blogs in all sorts of ways and recently a reader left a very kind comment so I hopped over to visit her blog.  I was delighted to discover Jen of Migonis Home who together with her husband AJ and young son Drew, is renovating a Cape Cod style cottage in Massachusetts. 

I loved her whole approach to the transformation of their home, and the fact they’re renovating it slowly while along the way making due with what they have.  Jen and AJ are making changes to their new abode to make the home suit their lifestyle.  I invited Jen to share her story and offer a few tips for living large in small space. 

Please welcome Jen!

Hi! I’m Jen Migonis from Migonis Home and I am thrilled to be joining you here today!  My husband and I bought a 75 year old Cape Cod in the seaside town of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts two years ago and boy, did it need a lot of work! There was about four layers of wallpaper on every wall and zero insulation under that (not a big deal if you live in California but if you live in Massachusetts and you can see your breath in your bedroom in the winter then it’s a different story).

Our house is tiny, so when we found out we had a baby on the way four months after we moved in we realized we need to make this house work hard for us.  Our house is far from perfect, and we are working on a project in almost every room, so bear with our “in progress” photos. 

When Kate asked me to be her guest I knew almost immediately what I wanted to talk about: living large in a small space. Today I’m going to focus on four ways to maximize your space in a small home.

Let it Flow.  House flow is essential for entertaining so when we renovated we knocked down the wall between the kitchen and dining room; if you are looking at the photo the location of the wall was on the left side of the hutch. Fellow Cape dwellers have mentioned to us how large our downstairs appears because it’s so open.

Now, we have a circular flow to our entire downstairs and if you are standing at either the front or the back door you can now see the opposite corners of our house. My son loved this when he was in his walker and sprinting around non-stop.

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